Desert Raiders: Steampunk in the Sand - Interest Check?

[Kare]

Summary:

In a world threatened by war, trains rocket across a desert to bring vital equipment and materials to a vicious, volatile nation. Your mission is to distract, de-rail, destroy, steal from, stop or anything – just don't let those supplies reach their destinations.

The World:

Mir is a continent with many nations. Tanrika, on the far East of Mir, has been getting greedy. Through political maneouvers, the smaller nations around Tanrika have been swallowed into its empire, and she's hungry for more. She is rapidly arming herself and building up her armies. Soon, she will be unstoppable. There are four more nations on Mir; Kandinia and Ekosa both openly criticise Tanrika's behaviour, but know that if things continue, they will be powerless to stop her expansion. Fraycia is hedging her bets, but has started to believe it would be best to start an informal alliance with Tanrika, and is supplying her with the natural deposits of iron and coal of which Fraycia has so many. However, Fraycia is on almost the other side of Mir, and needs to go through either Kandinia, Ekosa, or the final nation, Jenvia. Going through Jenvia is technically the longer way round, but the least opposed. A huge country, Jenvia has very little government or anything, really. It is basically a wasteland with a selection of shanty-towns that nobody else wants, due to how ridiculously impractical it would be to invade. However, Fraycia and Tanrika have, between them, set up an elaborate rail network to rapidly transfer Fraycia's ores to Tanrika, where they will be manufacted into weaponry.

Privateers:

For Kandinia and Ekosa, military operations to de-rail the trains are not an option. Mountain ranges and the harsh terrain make it extremely impractical. The rail itself is well-defended, and made from almost indestructable alloys. The trains themselves, though? Now, they all have bounties on them. Privateers, sometimes called pirates, working on tips leaked by mysterious sources, rush the trains and stop them. Needless to say, the trains are well-armed, and it usually means breaking on-board and taking it apart from the inside.
Fraycia and Tanrika have begun to cotton onto the actions of privateers, and has sent emissaries into the desert to hunt the privateers.

Technology:

This is a steampunk universe that hasn't quite made it to the skies yet. In Jenvia, however, methods of hovering have been developed as means of skimming over the brutal terrain; aptly named skimmers. These are circular vehicles, with, usually, no roof. With the use of steam-powered-propellers, skimmers can hover and move very quickly across the desert. Unfortunately, they are usually thrown together from scraps, and so are hugely unreliable and unpredictable. They vary wildly, but privateers generally equip their skimmers with a cannon or two, but they usually can't be heavily armed, because they cannot hold much weight.

Weaponry:

This is a steampunk world, and so all non-melee weapons are powered by steam. Melee weapons are generally whatever the user likes to use – often hammers or axes for blugeoning or braining.
Basic projectile weaponry exists, using pressurised steam to launch projectiles. Such cannons come in various sizes, included handheld cannons that resemble real-world guns. While larger cannons are generally directly connected to boilers, hand-cannons can be connected to cannisters of pressurised steam, which can be worn as backpacks. Cannons of all descriptions generally require being reloaded after every shot. Barrels generally cause leakage of pressure, and generally weakens the firepower. Elsewhere in Mir, heavily armoured mechanised vehicles are being produced, but Jenvia's terrain does not support them.

Psychic Sets:

Many people in Mir equip themselves with psychic headsets. These somewhat resemble headphones, with sensors on the ears and also on the forehead, which register beta waves. These brainwaves send electrical signals down wires that extend to the wrist, and then into a custom-built gauntlets. Such gloves are ridiculously impractical, and usually massively restrict the movement of the hand and fingers, so what do they do? Well, there are two kinds. One is for telekinesis (moving objects and even people around), and one is for telepathy (reading minds and implanting ideas, maybe even direct control). However, the gauntlets have a few drawbacks – all humans naturally give off these beta waves, and they cause interference. The more humans there are in the vicinity, the weaker the gloves become. They are extremely impractical in urban areas, as a result. Jenvia, however, is the ideal place for them. Second, the tech behind it is pretty volatile, and liable to break. They have a short range. Finally, it takes an awful lot of concentration to achieve a desired result.

The Kolibra

The Kolibra refers to two things: one particular Skimmer, and the crew that pilots it. They are a group of privateers hunting trains and trying to bring them down just like anybody else. The difference is, this is us.

The RP:

So, if I get interest, I'll flesh it out a little bit more, and, in particular, add (or commission) some drawings of the Kolibra. I'm looking for eight characters maximum: a captain, an engineer, a pilot or two and a handful of heavies. Maybe a medic too? Let me know if you can think of a role you think is appropriate. When we've sorted out a roster, I'll think up a particular mission, and we'll go de-rail some trains. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears – when GMing, I love for the other players to get involved with the world-building. I'm also a poet that didn't know it.
This is in the advanced section. This means I expect decent posts, and while I'm not a stickler for a set length, I expect a decent couple of paragraphs per post, and a high grammatical standard.

So... how's about it?

[Closet Nerd]

Already displayed interest but I'm posting to say I'm still in it as Advanced.

[Sir Beowulf]

I am fairly interested as well. How protected are said trains? Can we expect very dangerous situations while trying to stop them? What if they held passengers? Would we just go ahead and kill 'em 'cause we're pirates?

[Closet Nerd]

Just now found time to read the rest of the post and the thief idea is dumped because I had thought that we would be more like rebellious liberators rather than pirates. The whole thief thing was because I wanted to steal from trains AND privateers lol.

Do you think that if we had a good engineer character we could have another character be like a sniper? (I'm guessing these steamguns are like muskets when smaller so sniper would mean having a rifle from the same era which was the earliest sniper gun). I ask because I do not have the exact pinpoint on the time in this rp and so you may find that overpowered.

[Kare]

Just now found time to read the rest of the post and the thief idea is dumped because I had thought that we would be more like rebellious liberators rather than pirates. The whole thief thing was because I wanted to steal from trains AND privateers lol.

Do you think that if we had a good engineer character we could have another character be like a sniper? (I'm guessing these steamguns are like muskets when smaller so sniper would mean having a rifle from the same era which was the earliest sniper gun). I ask because I do not have the exact pinpoint on the time in this rp and so you may find that overpowered.

Quite what your character wants out of the privateering is entirely up to you. I daresay there will be a mix of vagabonds and rebels on the Kolibra, as well as people who simply need the money to eat. Being a thief can easily come with the territory.
Do you mean you want to play two roles? If you're up to it and can keep active with both characters, I don't see why not.
As for the sniper rifle, I don't see why we couldn't include it. I'm writing up a list of kit characters might have, explaining the pros and cons of each piece of equipment. The sniper rifle, I imagine, would be extremely pressure-hungry. However, it might be a little obsolete when trying to raid a fast-moving train?
Btw, I wouldn't be too tied to any one time in this RP. It's fiction, and while I'd like to keep it steam (rather than diesel or clock punk), I'm pulling most of this out of my brainhole because I like the sound of any individual bit.

I am fairly interested as well. How protected are said trains? Can we expect very dangerous situations while trying to stop them? What if they held passengers? Would we just go ahead and kill 'em 'cause we're pirates?

Every train would be different, but you can bet your bottom dollar that some military personnel of some description will guard each one. The tracks themselves are guarded by watchtowers every few kilometers or so, and they're frankly well-armoured so it's not just a case of blasting them off the rails. The rails, by the way, are made of the strongest alloys known to man, so can't just simply be destroyed. Each case, though, will be a bit different and require a different strategy.
Most of the trains, for security reasons, will not contain civilian passengers - which isn't to say that none of them will. How your character responds to obstructions (be they military or civilian) is up to you - and how the team judges them for it is, of course, up to them.

[Closet Nerd]

I was planning on two before, yes because my version of a thief character would be sortof in-and-out and certainly no protagonist. Though it may be difficult because the thief would basically have to be basically just like the Kolibra to be able to take on the trains in any fashion or the Kolibra itself.

And the sniper rifle is now more of just curiosity because I realized after my post that a a sniper would be useless in all train-related situations.

Also I think it's wonderful you come at it with that attitude because I've met a few hosts that were strict with timeline. I'm going to think a little more ahead before my next question though because I seem to be going all over the place with them so far.

[Archangel89]

I must say that this is an amazingly thought out story, coming from a writer. You have definitely piqued my interest. So if I'm reading this correctly were are going to essentially be privateers attacking the trains?

[MeishkaKurvari]

This is Brilliant. Here to show my immediate interest. I'm on board (get it?) to take on a predetermined role like the engineer, assuming this role allows for some freedom in the invention aspect, as well as the basic responsibilities of vehicle/equipment maintenance. Feel free to bounce any ideas off of me if you need some assistance. So far, I think this could be a very satisfying story. Cheers!

[Kare]

Thanks very much :3
It's not that thought-out at the minute, though. I'm currently working on a basic kit-list: the kind of tech you might have, but I'm gonna open up the floor to suggestions for weapons/armours/other technologies, and in the sheets, there's going to very much be a section to describe all the stuff the character carries, why, how it works (if it's not obvious), and what it looks like. That's part of the joy of steampunk, right?

But yes, bingo. The basic premise of the RP is that it's a romp in which we're privateers attacking trains. When it's off the ground, we'll probably just do a couple of simple missions to begin with, but then see if we actually want to get stuck into a long-term plot or just carry on tinkering about. Naturally, if the plot becomes more complex, there might be less dashing about the desert on barely-working hovercraft and a bit more dialogue and development, but only time will tell.

[Archangel89]

I cannot wait to get the CSs because the Psychic sets have me "drooling" in a matter of speaking